


Blackbird

by tangledintime



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Background Tommy/Maria, Mostly Joel and Ellie because I have feelings, Other, because singing the Beatles gets you thinking, deep thoughts, father daughter relationship, guitar playing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-03
Updated: 2017-01-03
Packaged: 2018-09-14 13:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9184654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tangledintime/pseuds/tangledintime
Summary: She looks at him now and sees a man who finally can crack a smile, but wouldn't hesitate to crack your skull open if you pissed him off. She nods to herself, she likes this Joel the best.In which Ellie finally learns how to play guitar, peeling away one of the last layers of Joel in the process.





	

Joel had promised Ellie he would teach her to play guitar, and she knew he would. What he didn't tell her was how fucking frustrating it would be. 

Fifteen year old Ellie sits on her battered mattress, a six string on her lap. She had been learning for over two months now and it was safe to say she wanted to pick this guitar up and smack it repeatedly against the ground. Or shoot it. Depends on her mood. Joel had said it was going to take some time, but patience was not one of Ellie's strong suits. 

Joel sits in front of her, watching intently as she tunes it up. When he gives her the all clear, she positions her fingers on the neck of the guitar and begins to play. He had given her a song, 'Blackbird', by some ancient group known as 'the Beatles'. Ellie doesn't hate it. It's got a nice rhythm to it, and you could definitely sing along, but it was fucking tricky. The chords changed fast, causing her fingers to get messed up between tries and Joel isn't helping as he tells her to start again when she messes up. 

It gets to her fifth try and Ellie gives up. She groans loudly, dramatically, and flops back onto the bed, letting the guitar fall with a thud on the floor. The guitar strings make an odd noise. "It's too hard! I'm not doing it anymore." 

"Ellie," Joel sighs in the most Dad like way, it even makes Ellie sigh. He sounds amused, like there's a hint of a smile in his voice but she doesn't want to look, just to retain the drama of her giving up. "You almost had it, try again." 

"No, I refuse." a little chuckle, maybe she could get out of this. "I don't see why I have to learn how to play the guitar anyway. I mean, what does it have to do with surviving? I can't serenade the Infected to death!"

"You're making a mountain out of a molehill, kid, just give it another shot."

"Why the fuck is this guy talking to a blackbird anyway? Blackbirds can't talk!"

"Ellie!" There's warning in his tone that makes her stiffen. "Pick up the guitar and play the goddamn chords." 

This time, she surrenders. "Alright, alright, jeez calm down, old man." she picks up the guitar and sits it on her lap. But the second it touches her knees, she has what might be the best or worst decision of her life. She stands the guitar up and hands it to him. 

"I want you to play." 

He blinks, caught off guard by that, which makes her smirk mightily. He shakes his head. "No, no, I'm good. This is your lesson."

"How am I supposed to learn when I don't even know what the song sounds like?" She gives him a faux-innocent look that had him glaring at her playfully. "Come on," Ellie nudges the guitar closer towards him. "Please?" 

He eyes her for a moment, then the instrument. There's an internal war going on in his mind, she knows it. He's debating whether he wants to become who he used to be for a few moments, the Joel before the outbreak. In the year she's been with him, Ellie is pretty sure she's only seen that Joel a handful of times and it was safe to say, she liked her Joel better. 

Just like her moments earlier, he surrenders by picking up the guitar. "Fine, fine." Ellie fists pumps the air, eliciting an eye roll from him, she didn't care, she's eager to listen to him play. "Now, bare in mind, I'm a little rusty. It's been a while since I've been around one of these puppies." 

"Can't be as bad as me," Ellie shrugs, "now, come on, play!" 

Joel clears his throat, places his fingers on the chord and begins to play. He doesn't sing, much to Ellie's dismay. Even though Joel had mentioned something about wanting to be a singer, Tommy had told her that Joel was quite the crooner and ever since then Ellie had been hounding the poor man to belt out a tune every once and awhile. Joel had to be talked out of beating Tommy's face in by Maria later that week. 

Ellie's transfixed in the song. It was so beautiful, so haunting, she found herself swaying along to the music as he went into the chorus. It takes a lot in her not to say anything when he begins to softly sing the song. To say she didn't expect that was an understatement. The song was short, so it was over before she could truly appreciate how good a singer Joel really was. 

"Now, try again." 

She takes the guitar again, looking at her now shaking hands. She breathes in, out, before strumming the chords and for the first time that session she actually gets it right. When Ellie finishes she can't help but bark out a surprised laugh. "Holy shit, I did it!" 

"See, was that so hard?" 

"I totally rocked that, didn't I? Like completely and totally smashed that!" 

Joel smirks, a little breath of a laugh leaving him. "Yeah, you did." 

Once Ellie comes down from her little achievement high there's a knock at the door and one of the woman pokes her head in. "The movies starting if you guys wanna join in?" 

"Yeah, Lily, give us a sec." Joel says, nodding his thanks. She winks at Ellie before disappearing again. Joel let's silence settle for a second before sighing, "Well," he starts, getting up, letting out a groan at the motion and Ellie has to wonder how the hell a man who can slam bandits heads against brick walls finds effort in getting up. "Come on, don't want to miss it."

Ellie nods, taking his offered hand and brushes herself down. "So, on a scale of one to ten, how much did I rock?" 

"I'd say....a six?" 

She's appalled. "A six?! That was a solid nine!" 

"Y'know, as I'm thinking about it, it was more like a four." 

Ellie's knows he's goading her, so she doesn't give him the satisfaction of a tantrum. "Man, you must be deaf, because that was a nine."

She grins as she watches the smile find his lips and she can't help but think about where they started. Ellie remembers looking at him andfeeling like the smallest spec of dust when he was around. He was huge, intimidating and in no way empathic towards anything or anyone. Then she remembers what happened that winter, how he just sort of melted and became this father figure to her. Suddenly he wasn't her smuggler, he was a confidant, someone she trusted, and they came few and far between in this world. The last one was Riley, and well, she knows how that turned out. 

She looks at him now and sees a man who finally can crack a smile, but wouldn't hesitate to crack your skull open if you pissed him off. She nods to herself. 

She likes this Joel the best.

**Author's Note:**

> Because The Last of Us 2 trailer came out and it hurt my feelings so here we are. I find I'll only use this profile if I have feelings about a certain relationship or character(s). Like right now I'm thinking of doing a Peter Parker fic bc I have been crying over that boy ever since I rewatched Civil War.
> 
> Hope you guys enjoyed this, I didn't think I'd get such an audience for my Critical Role fic, which you should ;) definitely ;) not ;) check ;) out ;)
> 
> See ya!


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